Review: Swan Lake by The Miami City Ballet at the Broward Center for the Arts

The Miami City Ballet can always be counted on to deliver a good show. Their production of Swan Lake, performed most recently at the Broward Center for the Arts in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, November 7th, 2016, delivered breath-taking scenes of exquisite dance, grace, and artistry.

Swan Lake was originally composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875. The version produced by the Miami City Ballet is the more dramatic and picturesque George Balanchine performance first created in 1951 for Maria Tallchief and New York City Ballet.

The performance at the Broward Center for the Arts was nothing short of scintillating, with glittering performances by Simone Messmer. Ms. Messmer was making her season debut as the principal dancer for the Miami City Ballet with this performance. She is a former American Ballet Theater soloist whose power and sublime grace in the performance left the audience yearning for more.

Speaking of the audience, there was a large contingent of moms with their daughters and school-aged children ranging from high-schoolers to youngsters around the age of 10. The sight of young people in the audience provides a spark and a fine counterpoint to the usual mature, formality of the audience on most nights.

The Siegfried, Rainer Krenstetter represented an archetype of masculine grace and power to Odette’s vulnerability and victimhood. The performance was greatly aided by a striking yet not heavy-handed display of set design, particularly with the backlighting that ranged from cool aqua blues to steamy violets.

For Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez, this Swan Lake, while not the most emotive or dramatic this reviewer has ever seen, still delivered an enthralling and catalyzing assemblage of delights for the audience members.

Immediately upon intermission, Viscera was performed by Liam Scarlett with a sense of the mute helpless of tragedy beckoning.

This Swan Lake was a testament to the power of classical ballet and it’s exceptionally gratifying, and unique fusion of modern athleticism and transcendental beauty. This is why you go to the ballet. This is why the dance still matters.